The Snipex Alligator is a bolt-action, magazine-fed
anti-materiel rifle
An anti-materiel rifle (AMR) is a rifle designed for use against military equipment, structures, and other hardware (materiel) targets. Anti-materiel rifles are chambered in significantly larger calibers than conventional rifles and are employed ...
chambered in
14.5×114mm manufactured by
XADO
Xado () is a multinational chemical group with headquarters in Germany, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, manufacturing high-tech nano technology products and lubricants such as revitalizants, lubricants, oils, greases, aftermarket oil additives, f ...
Holding Ltd.
Design
The Snipex Alligator long-range large-caliber magazine-fed repeating rifle is designed to engage moving and stationary targets: vehicles, communications and air defense systems, aircraft in parking areas, fortified fixed defensive positions,
dugouts
Dugout may refer to:
* Dugout (shelter), an underground shelter
* Dugout (boat), a logboat
* Dugout (smoking), a marijuana container
Sports
* In bat-and-ball sports, a dugout is one of two areas where players of the home or opposing teams sit whe ...
, etc. The box
magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
is detachable and holds five rounds of ammunition. It is designed to penetrate of
armor plate
Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighti ...
at a distance of .
The
rifle
A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...
was designed to take into account all the requirements for high-precision shooting. Barrel locking is achieved through a rotating
bolt. The rifle demonstrates an acceptable level of recoil during shooting. Recoil is suppressed by the
muzzle brake
A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral (ported barrel) to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter re ...
, the recoil isolator, an elastic multilayer shoulder pad, and optimally balanced weight.
The rifle has a height-adjustable cheek rest, which can be positioned for right- or left-handed shooting. For ease of aiming, the rifle is equipped with a folding bipod and an adjustable rear support, allowing for fine adjustment. It has a
Picatinny rail
The 1913 rail (MIL-STD-1913 rail) is an American rail integration system designed by Richard Swan that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It forms part of the NATO standard STANAG 2324 rail. It was originally used for mount ...
with a 35
arc minute
A minute of arc, arcminute (abbreviated as arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of a degree. Since one degree is of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is of a tu ...
gradient on which various sighting devices can be mounted.
History
The rifle was first introduced in June 2020 on the official Snipex
Facebook page
Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of ...
. In July, the first presentation video appeared on the official
YouTube channel
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San B ...
of
XADO
Xado () is a multinational chemical group with headquarters in Germany, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, manufacturing high-tech nano technology products and lubricants such as revitalizants, lubricants, oils, greases, aftermarket oil additives, f ...
. Based on the state examinations results, the 14.5×114 mm caliber Snipex Alligator rifle was unofficially adopted by the
Armed Forces of Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...
in 2020;
it was officially adopted on 2 March 2021.
The Alligator has been used by Ukrainian forces during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
. A
near-record killing shot was recorded there in November 2022 at a confirmed distance of .
Users
* :
Armed Forces of Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...
See also
*
Snipex T-Rex
The Snipex T-Rex is a single-shot anti-materiel rifle chambered for the 14.5×114mm cartridge and manufactured by XADO-Holding Ltd., Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Design
The T-Rex is a bolt-action rifle. During loading, the cartridge is inserted into the ...
*
Snipex M
Snipex M is a long-range single-shot 12.7mm rifle with automatic case ejection. Developed by XADO-Holding Ltd. company (Kharkiv, Ukraine).
Design
The Snipex М rifle is available in two versions. Snipex М75 has a barrel length of 750 mm, a ...
*
Snipex Rhino Hunter
References
{{reflist, 30em
14.5×114mm anti-materiel rifles
Single-shot bolt-action rifles
Sniper rifles of Ukraine
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2020